Good Things Come in Small Packages

The Magical Mailbox has been working overtime this week. I received Melissa's Moleskine, (we are doing very small journal RR) along with this adorable little house ornie. I have it hanging on the cupboard door on my computer desk, along with a few others. I am looking foreward to playing in her journal!










Also in yesterday's mail was this beautiful bracelet from Kristen. She sent it as a thank you for hosting the Valentine's exchange. (Which by the way, begins TOMORROW!!) Kristen's jewellery is so delicate and beautiful and I feel incredibly spoiled to now have a nice little collection of it. I love handmade jewellery-it has so much soul to it and it's especially meaningful when your firneds create it for you.








As is the other two things weren't enough, I also received this surprise from Deb Denton. (Sorry, no link!) Deb sent it as a thank you for participating in a collaborative project (the details of which are still a secret) that will be appearing in Somerset, come the fall. I will share more about it when I can, without blowing the surprise for the recipiants. The art on this pendant is from part of the book. How cool is that?

Thanks ladies for all the sweet and thoughtful gifts. I am a lucky girl indeed!

Home Sweet Home

Isn't this little house just delightful? It came yesterday from my friend Liz who is so thoughtful. Really, she is one of those people you just want to hug. She made this for me as a thank you for hosting the Be My Valentine gift exchange. It was such a wonderful surprise and it means the world to me. I love little folk art things and this one is all the more special because it's her art.

Speaking of Liz, she is going through a really hard time right now. Her mother-in-law suffered a stroke two days ago, so if you can, please pop over to her blog and leave her some kind words. She could really use the support right now. It seems like 2007 has really started off on the wrong foot in terms of several friends in the artistic community facing a health crisis or a death in the family. What is always wonderful to see is everyone coming together to support one another, whether it's sending an ecard, snail mail, a package, offering prayers or making a phone call to check up on them. There are some very kind and generous folks out there! Art is not only about the work you create, but the community you become a part of. It allows for connections between people who might not have met otherwise and it's at times like these that I realize how precious those connections are.

A Big Dose of Eyecandy!

So about a year ago today, I bought a small calendar journal. I altered/arted up the pages that belonged to January and then sent it on it's merry way. Over the remainder of the year, my little book (the smallest in the group) would make the rounds, entering into the hands of 11 artist friends: Lou McCulloch: February

Linda Koch: March

Reiny Rizzi: April

Kim Logan: May

Kathy Wasilewski (whose brainchild this was): June

Sally Turlington: July

Deryn Mentock: August

Claudia Roulier: September

Deb Trotter: October

Stacie Rife: November

Katie Kendrick: December

Today, my book made its way home, chock full of amazing and beautiful art. Below I have posted a few pages. It's impossible for me to share them all, but trust me when I say, this book is unique and special and something that I will always treasure.

THANK YOU to each and every one of the ladies who worked on my book. I am truely grateful for your time and talent and I want you to know this little gem means the world to me. Each page is remarkable and every time I page through, I see something different and delightful.

I would also like to say a big THANK YOU to Kathy for hosting this project. I know it's been a huge and time consuming job and I want you to know that that did not go unnoticed. Thank you for working so hard to keep everything running smoothly.

I will have more goodies to share with you tomorrow! Until then, happy arting!

New Goodies!

Ah Saturday! Here it is the weekend and I am still plugging away on things that have piled up on my desk through the course of two surgeries. It's amazing how quickly how things multiply when you are not looking!

Anyway, I have a few new goodies listed at The Tattered Edge Mercantile. For those of you looking for a Valentine's treat, I made some journals using this delicious raspberry coloured paper. I am not a huge fan of pink, but this paper definately doesn't "read" as pink in person. It reminded me of vintage wall paper, which is why I bought it. I also have some silver bracelets I made listed that are perfect for charm bracelets. They are going like hot cakes, with art charms being the "hot" thing right now, so if you think you might want one, better hurry!

Okay, time for me to get back to work! I am off to a concert tonight in Vancouver so I want to find the top of my desk before I go. Have a good weekend folks!

Artistically Me

This is a piece I worked on yesterday for a collaborative I am hosting for my housemates at Artfest. I thought it would be cool to do a book just with the friends I will be rooming with. We are doing a few pages, but this one is to showcase our art. The idea was to make something that represents you and your style. I think I nailed it right here! The fun part is that there are some clues as to who I am within this piece that I will explain to them when we put our books together. (We are going to spend the evening of the first night assembling our books together at our house-can't wait!)

It's interesting purposely making a piece that represents my style. Awhile back I asked my friend Penn about my style because I didn't really think I had one. After hearing her explain what she sees when she looks at my art, I have a better understanding of what it is I appear to do. (Thanks Penn!) One thing I've realized in working on this particular piece is that I often like to work monochromatically or dichromatically. There's just something I love about playing with the hues within one colour family. Unknowingly, I do this alot. I think what I like about it is the smooth transition from one element to another.

I still have 3 more pages to design and prepare before I can think about what the covers are going to look like. Luckily there are 61 days till Artfest!!

For My Gramps

In Loving Memory of

Kenneth George Chick

October 31, 1021-January 25, 2004

There are no words to say how deeply he is missed.

"As a child he's take me walking

by moutain, field and stream

and he'd show me things

Not known to kings

a secret between him and me.

And I never will forget him

for he made me what I am

and though he may be gone

memories linger on

and I miss him, the old man."

-Roma Downey

Now Available!

For anyone interested in making charm bracelets, I am selling some handmade bracelets at the Tattered Edge Mercantile. So far I only have one listed, but if you want one to attach your charms to, just let me know and I can make more!

I thought I would make a few since so many people are going to be trading charms at Artfest and charms really do seem to be the "hot" thing right now!

Happy shopping!

For the Love of Zines

I love the blog world. You get to meet such interesting and creative people. Thanks to my friend Jeannine, I was connected to Barbara Clark.
Barbara recently put out her first (I think!) issue of her zine, Negative Spaces. After hearing what a great zine it was, I had to check it out for myself. I was lucky I heard about it when I did-by the time I ordered, there were just 6 copies left!

I am one of those people who orders something and then totally forgets about it till it arrives. It showed up late yesterday and when I saw the envelope, I didn't have a clue what was inside. Once I got it open, I thought "Oh yeah! The Zine!!" Yesterday ended rather badly-my husband had a car accident on the way to pick up my son from school (he's okay, his truck though is a bit worse for wear) and there was some other annoying life "stuff" that happened, but all was forgotten when I opened up Negative Spaces.

On page 3, I laid my eyes on this beauty and I was instantly hooked. SEWING EPHEMERA ART!!! I can't tell you how much I love sewing ephemera!! One of the wonderful things in getting to know Barbara is finding out how much we have in common. Barbara said this is her favourite piece in the zine too. The entire zine is made up of her gorgeous artwork, all in colour. Page after page of beautiful layering and interesting combinations of materials. I just kept flipping and gasping. It was a treat for the eyes! There was also an envie of goodies tucked inside.

Do you know what the best part of all was? All this artsy goodness was a mere $3 US! Yes, you read right. This amazing zine was $3! You can bet I am going to be ordering it as soon as the next issue comes out! It's a keeper! This definately goes on my list of THINGS I LOVE!

*The copyright notices that appear on these images do not appear in the zine. I just added them here, as these images belong to Barbara. They have been posted here with her permission.

Happiness Is...

...a box from Papier Valise!

People often email and ask me where I get all the pretty little things I use in my art. One of my favourite sources is Paper Valise. Janice (the owner who, by the way is absolutely one of the lovliest, down to earth people I know) had some beautiful red vintage labels that I had to have. I plan to use them in my portfolio which I am currently working on.

I also fell in love with the striped string she had on the homepage and had to have some of that too. I have no clue what I will use it for, but that really isn't the point, now is it? *grin* Sometimes it's just enough to surround myself with delightful things that amuse me. And really, if you want to be "in the know", join the Papier Valise Yahoo group. That way you will get to hear about new products as they are released and won't miss out on those rare treasures you just have to have!

Getting an order in the mail from Janice is truely a gift to myself. It always makes me smile!

Perspective

Today I did something I have never done before. I took the sky train into Vancouver for the monthly ATC swap. It wasn't my original plan, but I am kind of glad it worked out that way.

What I discovered (or rediscovered, actually) was that when you travel this way, high above the streets of the city, you have a bird's eye view and you can see all kinds of things you wouldn't normally see travelling in a car.

I noticed a wonderful mural painted on a long wall of a local park I didn't even know existed. It had all kinds of giant produce painted on it. I saw a sports car parked in behind some industrial buildings with it's front axle so badly bent that I doubt anyone will ever drive it again. I saw a fleet of old tugs docked along the Fraser River in New Westminster, so old, their white and teal paint was peeling off. I saw a lean-to shelter behind a building near the city center that I doubt anyone is aware is there. Someone who is homeless is "living" there. I wondered who it was and how they came to be there. I worry, especially because we have had such inclement weather. I saw lots of graffiti on freight trains I passed. It was beautiful and artistic in its own way. Further down the line there was a skate park where the graffiti on the walls that surround it is intentional art. I also saw a row of houses, each painted in a different deep folk art colour. I thought that was delightful and I wondered if the neighbours all got together and planned it that way. I was unable to take photographs due to the speed I was travelling at so I will have to be content with the snapshots I took with my mind's eye.

It's interesting to shake up the routine, to travel an unfamiliar route in order to experience something new or to see something from a different angle. Inspiration is all around us, we just have to look with fresh eyes. What a gift it is to do something that seems so ordinary, so trivial and have it feel like an adventure. Our lives aren't lacking in excitement-they are lacking in awareness! We look at things every day. How often do we really see them?

"The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."
-Henry Miller

"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle."
-Thich Nhat Hanh

Weekend Update

Aeons ago, (November actually) I made these little pieces of art for a Divine Definations swap. The idea was you took an interesting word and then created art around it. I knew right away I wanted to work on "paradigm". It's a odd but powerful word.

I created a little charm (on the bottom right) to illustrate the word and then made a tiny booklet talking about the concept. I housed it all in an altered matchbox. The swap has finally gone out, so I can share my part of it with you now. Everyone's pieces have been tucked into a tin and mine should be arriving soon! I can't wait to see what everyone did.

It's a pretty busy time for me right now. I am in the middle of the Be My Valentine gift exchange. I am preparing for 3 different classes in February. I am working on new classes. I am doing design work and also working on art for an upcoming book. I have a couple of pieces that are going to be published in magazines in the next little while. You can bet I have a detailed to-do list keeping me on schedule!

Only 67 more days till Artfest!! I am *so* looking forward to getting away for a few days and refilling my creative well, visiting with old friends and making some new ones! If you are reading this and you (yes you!) are going please post and let me know!

Things That Rock!

This is my post about things that I am really loving at the moment! First of all, for all you unmounted rubber fans out there, Paper Artsy has made me unbelieveably happy. They came up with the brilliant idea to offer their line already mounted onto EZmount so you can use them with your acryllic blocks as soon as you receive them! No more sticky scissors for this girl!!

Each plate comes with a laminate index sheet (whether it's on the EZ mount or not) and this is perfect for someone like me who likes to have things organized and close at hand. I have stored all my PA plates in a wooden crate. It's an extensive collection since I have been on their design team for almost 3 years and it all fits in the one box! (That's currently 26 plates with plenty of room for more-gotta love that!) I can easily thumb through my collection to find what I need and everything stays put.

One of the reasons why it's so important for me to be organized when it comes to my art supplies is that I would much rather spend time making art, than looking for the supplies I need to do it. It's part of what helps keep me productive. Also, at the end of the day, I always make sure I clean off my desk as much as possible so I sit down to a fresh workspace in the morning. It may seem like a small thing, but it helps me feel good about getting started each morning.

Another thing I think is really cool is my friend Mandy is embarking on a year long personl art retreat. She realized she had tons of art books, supplies and ideas that she would like to explore over the course of the year. She is detailing her journey at her Labratory 555 blog. I think it's a really intriguing idea and I am going to keep my eye on her adventure!

My other big happy-making thing is my red ceramic Starbuck's mug. I am a big fan of deep reds and I love my Starbucks! My son bought me the green and white version as well, so when one's in the sink, I have a back up! But I love the red one best, simply because of the colour. I almost constantly have a cup of tea close at hand and there is nothing better than having it in a favourite mug.

And lastly, if you are an avid reader like I am and love Thomas Harris, I highly recommend his new novel "Hannibal Rising". It is essentially the back story of Hannibal Lecter. It chronicals his early childhood in Russia and gives us a glimpse as to how he evolved into the Hannibal we came to love/hate/fear in Silence of the Lambs. It took me a matter of hours to read it-it was that good!

Oh and I guess you've noticed by now that I have a new blog skin. I thought it was time for a change!

Ongoing Projects

This little ghost faerie ATC is for Lou. It's a signature card. I am just finishing up some work in her calendar journal. Lou's is the last one of 11 journals I have worked on and I am pleased to be able to wrap up my work on this project. I am eagerly awaiting the return home of my own journal. It was the littlist of the bunch, measuring just 4 x 6 inches and the feedback on it was so positive that I can't wait to have it back and revel in all the artsy goodness!! It's been gone a whole year, that I can't even imagine what's in it. Even though there were photos posted as it was worked on, I actually didn't look at them unless asked to, so whatever was created for me is going to be a surprise!

Speaking of surprises, I just posted pics of my wrapped gift for the Be My Valentine exchange. There will be more pics uploaded as the ladies wrap and send out their gifts. I can't wait for February 1st!!

January Thus Far

So I have been working hard on my gifts for the Be My Valentine exchange. (The photo here is a hint!) I have 10 out of 15 completed and should be able to mail them off by next weekend, once I figure out how I want to wrap them. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone made. Like my friend Penn often says, we have so much fun making gifts to give that we forget that we are going to also be receiving some back!

In other news, I am incredibly excited about an upcoming book I have recently been invite to contribute to. I love doing work for publication-it's what inspires me the most. Art is for sharing and I love thinking up a project and then working through it to the finished piece, knowing it's going to inspire other artists. I know my heart really lies in the process of design more than anything. Speaking of design, Paper Artsy has published two more of my designs as project sheets for their retailers. I am very pleased. It looks like it's going to be a busy winter, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am also starting to get my supplies gathered for Artfest. It's a couple months away, but the time goes by so quickly and before I know it, it will be time to go! I can't wait to visit and reconnect with old friends, meet some new ones and fill up my creative well. I have classes with LK Ludwig and Kristen Steiner who are new to me and the lovely Nina Bagley whom I have had the pleasure of taking a class with before. It's so important to spend time with people who "get" the whole mixed media art thing. It's wonderful to walk into a room and be greeted by a whole host of people who are like-minded. I always feel like throwing my arms wide and shouting "MY PEOPLE!!!" *grin*

Meanwhile, back in reality, we are still dealing with snow and ice. Since the last storm hit, we have had a cold snap so it's barely melted during the day and then refreezes overnight. I can tell you I am already tired of scraping my windshield and having to force my car door open every morning! Once I have driven my son to school, I scramble back to my warm house, throw on an extra sweater and a pair of slippers and get to work. Winter always makes me want to burrow down and hibernate. It's a time when my creativity is at its peak.

Thoughts on Stanley Park

These are pictures taken at Stanley Park on various visits I made to the park. This park is a large green space (forest) in dowtown Vancouver. I have visited this park often througout my life. This park was a source of wonderment for me as a child when I came here on vacation. I thought it truely was magical. I had never seen such big trees and I loved driving around the park and being enveloped in green. I have happy memories of swimming in the pool on the west side of the park, that is now gone. It was filled with seawater, something a prairie girl had little exposure to.

Once I got married and had my son, our family continued to enjoy the park. We have had picnics there, walked the seawall, gone on photo shoots, visited the aquarium and zoo, ridden the Xmas train and beachcombed at low tide. The park continues to be a source of happy memories for our family. It's a place we go to to get out when the weather is good, to get some exercise and to have some family time. It's woven itsself into our lives.

I am not sure if anyone living outside of BC knows, but we have been hit with a series of 14 wind/rain/snow storms in the last 6 weeks. The winds have been up to 100 km. We have had torrential rains that have created alot of flooding. We have had the rare occurance of snow, which on the coast is extremely wet and heavy. All of this has meant huge damage to the park. Trees have either been felled by wind, snapped in half as if they were twigs or later damaged by the weight of the snow on the branches. The rains have created errosion on the cliffs above the seawall, resulting in mud slides that have shut down sections of the wall.

Stanley Park has taken alot of abuse from mother nature. The park has lost trees that are at least 200 years old. It absolutely breaks my heart to see the damage. I believe the trees in the top two photos are likely gone. Prospect Point, the area in the park where those photos were taken was hit especially hard. There is a Flickr site that has some photos of damage from one of the storms in December. You can see them here.

I guess the reason why I am writing this is because this is the place I go to feed my soul and to get inspiration. This park has been the place where I have taken some of my best photos, which I am so glad I have now that Stanley Park has been changed forever. It will never be quite the same again, even though work is already underway to restore and repair the damage. I know that the park will always be beautiful, it's just different now.

"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her."
-William Wordsworth

1 Inch Wonders

My first little pieces of art for the new year. If you are interested in having them for your very own, you can check them out in the Tattered Edge Mercantile.

Blogger was down for maintenace for the better part of the day. It's just gotten back up and running and now we are having another wind storm here. The trees are whipping back and forth like crazy! This will make storm #14 if I remember correctly. Last Friday, our power went out for the second time in the last couple of weeks at 9:30 p.m. and stayed that way until 5 a.m. the next morning. It was a very cold night. Last time it went out, on December 23rd, it was off for 16 hours and I had to turf most of what was in my fridge. We have had the power flicker here twice already in the last hour. I hope it doesn't go out again-I have had about enough of that! I am running to the kitchen now to cook dinner, just in case!

Book Junkie

So I have been cooped up at home alot lately and was getting a little stir crazy. I had to go for a test this morning so I took a detour over to my library, even though it was snowing. (That should tell you how desperate I am-we rarely get snow on the west coast and when we do, the roads are mayhem!)

Anyway, my library has a bunch of discard shelves in the hall where they sell off their unwanted books for 10c or so, depending on what it is. I decided to have a look, since I often find little gems-really old dictionaries and such.

On one shelf, there were 6 little books, all with pretty embossed burgundy leather spines. Upon closer inspection, I discovered they were actually set of readers, in mint condition. They are copyrighted 1881 and have these wonderful old-timey illustrations. Book one is pretty thick with lots of pictures. Book two is a tad thicker, still a fair number of pictures. Book three, thicker still and less pictures. By the time you get to book six, it's very thick, no pictures. (Which I found rather amusing!) The sign taped beneath them indicated the set was $10. How on earth could I walk away and leave them there? I didn't! They are now happily ensconced on my shelf!

I also picked up "Biology Made Simple" from 1956 that has funny diagrams in it and a French lesson book from 1966 with all kinds of cartoon type pictures in it. Both books were 10c each! Finding all that made the detour worthwhile!

Thoughts on Teaching and Learning

I am still breathing! I have just been lying low because I am not feeling too crisp.

Seems like January is going to be a whirl wind of preparation. Yesterday I was invited to teach a 5 part series on ATCs to kids which will likely begin mid-February. I am excited about this because it's always fun to expose kids to mixed media art. I remember when I was in elementry school. It was a small school-there was only one teacher for each class and back then, classes were split (two or three grades in one room) because there weren't enough kids to make a full grade class. Anyway, the grade 6 teacher was Mr. Hanna. Mr. Hanna was the teacher whom everyone couldn't wait to have because Mr. Hanna's passion was art! He would do all these very cool art projects and everyone was just dying to get to grade 6 so they could do them. I remember making clay masks, painting and firing them. I loved working with clay. My Gram still has that mask hanging on her bedroom wall!

I get alot of satisfaction from going into schools and sharing my love of art with the kids. They are enthusiastic learners and while I can show them what to do initially, they always surprise and delight me with their own take on the project. It's that give and take that happens, that is so exciting.

Just prior to Xmas, I taught my altered mirrors class to two classes of grade 6/7 students. At the end of the class, I asked the kids if anyone thought before they started that they couldn't do it because they didn't think they were an artist. Lots of hands went up. One girl said she didn't think she could do it at first, but once she started, she realized what she was doing was good! A couple of boys chimed in and agreed with her. That's a golden moment right there! It's a good lesson for all of us as artists, wherever we are in our learning and creating: never underestimate yourself! There is courage in even starting something and once you start, you never know what you will learn along the way.

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
~Goethe

Ringing in the New!

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope you had a safe and joyful celebration last night. I had a quiet night at home with my guys, which suits me just fine.

January 1st brings with it the opportunity to start new projects and to that end, I wanted to announce the launching of the Be My Valentine Blog. If you were following the 12 Days of Xmas Blog, you know that that swap drew to a close last week. What will you do for eyecandy now? Well, you can visit the Valentine's blog! We had so much fun doing the last gift exchange, that I decided to host one more before taking a hiatus from these kinds of projects. (One of my goals this year is to cut back significantly in order to persue some of my other artistic yearnings.)

To that end, I accepted an invitation to join Art Pub Studios which is a network of artists supporting one another to reach their personal goals. It will be helpful to have a sounding board and to be able to receive constructive feedback. I am also looking forward to supporting the other members. So much of the processing and work we do as artists takes place alone in our studios and it can be quite an insular experience. It will be nice to feel like a part of a team-together everyone accomplishes more. *Note: The website for Art Pub Studios is a work in progress.

So that's where I am at on this first day of the new year-thinking about the unlimited potential that lies ahead in the 364 1/4 days left of 2007. Onward ho!